Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
IN the Harry Potter series, there are several exemplary father figures who enter into the life of The Boy Who Lived. There’s Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and even Arthur Weasley. But none had a bigger impact on me as a teenager than Albus Dumbledore.
To begin with, Dumbledore always sees the good in people, even if they seem to be beyond redemption. Even when Dumbledore realises that the young Tom Riddle has much darkness and hatred in him when he first meets him in that orphanage, he still takes the future Lord Voldemort into Hogwarts. Perhaps growing up in a dysfunctional family gave him the ability to empathise with children from a similar environment.
Also, Dumbledore is not one who gives you all the answers you need. Unlike the stereotypical Asian parent who spoonfeeds children, Dumbledore guides Harry down the right path but never reveals everything to him, even if this means endangering Harry’s life. He knows this is the only way for Harry to mature, grow up and make the right choices. “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities,” he says in The Chamber Of Secrets.
I don’t think Harry would have been the wizard he turned out to be if Dumbledore had held his hand every step of the way. Something Asian parents need to think about, perhaps?
Lastly, what is a hero without sacrifice? In The Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore willingly drank from the basin in the cave even when he knew it would make him deranged. I teared up so much when I reached that part of the novel and cried a river when he sacrificed himself for the greater good. Yes, a great father figure, and, with that action, the greatest wizard of all time, too.